Saturday, August 05, 2006

curling, yes!

In retrospect, and considering the comment I got today, I'd say that yes, curling's a sport. In the early 1990s, a friend and I considered forming the Jamaican curling team, figuring that it would not be impossible to beat out the other Jamaican teams and grab the slot.

The idea never bore fruit, although we did drink some Red Stripe, I believe. Or maybe it was Lucky Lager and we just pretended it was from farther south.

That said, curling is quite a bit different from its relatives, not the least reason being the need to skitter around on the ice while coaxing the missile to its target. And it is fun to watch on television, unlike some more widely regarded sports, such as track and field (which TV strips utterly of drama, speed and power. The usual camera from above can't beat the view from trackside.)

Come to think of it, not many sports are as good on TV as they are in person. Maybe billiards, because of the advantage of the Telestrator. Maybe tennis, because then you don't have to have the bouncy-head syndrome.

Anyway, I'll buy curling.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

What a discussion this topic brought up earlier and now! I think it just comes down to what each person's definition of a "sport" is. George Carling I think only considered Baseball, Football, Basketball, and Hockey, as Sports. The rest are activities.

This discussion got me to thinking of Olympic Events. Wasn't the Olympics first created by the Greeks around "sport" as they defined it? If so, than I guess the Olympic Events are "sports" by that logic. Keep in mind this includes events such as ballroom dancing, bridge, surfing, and roller skating.

Notice I use the word events because I disagree with some Olympic events being sport, but they are overseen by the International Sports Federations. I don't know if that means anything, but that's what this idiot thinks -